To Heal the Broken Hearted

Description

To Heal the Broken Hearted by Paul Francis Spencer

The Beatification of Father Charles of Mount Argus by Pope John Paul II on 16 October 1988 puts before our eyes a new Patron for the Ministry of Healing which is at present experiencing a renewal within the Catholic Church. For almost 30 years Blessed Charles, who died in 1893, was visited daily by hundreds of people who came to Mount Argus in Dublin to receive his blessing an to be prayed over for physical and spiritual healing.

Remembered by those who knew him as being ‘always accessible’, ready to go at a moment’s notice to visit the sick and the dying, Blessed Charles Houben was known throughout Ireland as the ‘Saint of Mount Argus’. Yet he was no plaster-saint, untouched by human weakness.

This biography reveals Charles’ own inner struggles through which he learned compassion and understanding for others. Removed from Dublin for a time ‘because of his extraordinary cures’, he was until the end of his life sunjected to criticism and humiliation, even within his own religious community. Crippled by constant pain in his later years, he continued to devote his life to the poor, the sick and the needy. Drawing the strength to bear his own suffering from the Passion of Christ, he was able to bring to them compassionate love of Jesus Crucified.

We see Charles as someone who even in the midst of activity was able to live continually in the presence of God. His life exemplifies that fusion of action and contemplation which was intrinsic to his vocation as a Passionist. Following the teaching of St. Paul of the Cross, the founder of the Passionists, Charles centred all his prayer and activity on the Mystery of the Cross. His life manifests his deep awareness of the profound link between the Crucified Christ and the crucified ones of our world.

ISBN: 9781905965021

Publisher: Ovada Books